Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Author's Preface
- Key to Parenthetical References to the Works of Mary Somerville
- Prologue: Perceiving What Others Do Not Perceive: The “Peculiar Illumination” of the Female Mind
- 1 Head among the Stars, Feet Firm upon the Earth: The Problem of Categorizing Mary Somerville
- 2 Creating a Room of Her Own in the World of Science: How Mary Fairfax Became the Famous Mrs. Somerville
- 3 Science as Exact Calculation and Elevated Meditation: Mechanism of the Heavens (1831), “Preliminary Dissertation” (1832), and On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences (1834)
- 4 The Earth, the Sea, the Air, and Their Inhabitants: Physical Geography (1848) and On Molecular and Microscopic Science (1869)
- 5 Mary Somerville on Mary Somerville: Personal Recollections (1873)
- 6 Memory and Mary Somerville: In the Public Eye and Historical Memory
- Epilogue: Science, Voice, and Vision
- Selected Bibliography
- Index
5 - Mary Somerville on Mary Somerville: Personal Recollections (1873)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 March 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Author's Preface
- Key to Parenthetical References to the Works of Mary Somerville
- Prologue: Perceiving What Others Do Not Perceive: The “Peculiar Illumination” of the Female Mind
- 1 Head among the Stars, Feet Firm upon the Earth: The Problem of Categorizing Mary Somerville
- 2 Creating a Room of Her Own in the World of Science: How Mary Fairfax Became the Famous Mrs. Somerville
- 3 Science as Exact Calculation and Elevated Meditation: Mechanism of the Heavens (1831), “Preliminary Dissertation” (1832), and On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences (1834)
- 4 The Earth, the Sea, the Air, and Their Inhabitants: Physical Geography (1848) and On Molecular and Microscopic Science (1869)
- 5 Mary Somerville on Mary Somerville: Personal Recollections (1873)
- 6 Memory and Mary Somerville: In the Public Eye and Historical Memory
- Epilogue: Science, Voice, and Vision
- Selected Bibliography
- Index
Summary
No analysis is so difficult as that of one's own mind
–Mary Somerville, Personal RecollectionsThe last page of the second draft of Mary Somerville's autobiography, written near the end of her long life, contains only a few lines. These lines are recorded in an elderly hand that deteriorates rapidly as it moves down the page and seems to contradict the words themselves.
I have every reason to be thankful that my intellect is still unimpaired, and, although my strength is weakness, my daughters support my tottering steps, and, by incessant care and help, make the infirmities of age so light to me that I am perfectly happy, and as a memorial of my gratitude and love, I dedicate this my last work to them.
Mary SomervilleThe page is very wrinkled and appears to have been crumpled and then smoothed out again. The words printed here in italics are omitted from the published version. The circumstances that led to the crumpling of the page and the omission of the final words remain, like many other things about Mary Somerville, somewhat of a mystery.
Personal Recollections holds particular interest because it sheds light on her published works and also offers answers to questions left largely unanswered by other sources. What kind of a person was Mary Somerville? What kind of life did she lead? What were her regrets and fears? How did she view her own career and abilities? What were her views on women in science and society?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Mary SomervilleScience, Illumination, and the Female Mind, pp. 169 - 198Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001